- Lavaridge Town is found a short trip down Route 112, to the left of where you leave Jagged Pass. (If you head right towards the ledge that leads to Mauville, you'll find a Nugget. Don't accidentally hop all the way down, or you'll have to do Jagged Pass again.)

- Pop into the Pokemon Center and speak to the woman beside the Hot Springs entrances. She'll sell you MooMoo Milk, a decent restorative item. If you enter the women's side of the Hot Springs (yes, men can do this too) you'll find a hidden Ice Heal in the middle of the water.

- Speak to the old woman to the left of the Pokemon Center. She'll give you an Egg to raise if you have an empty space in your team. Spend enough time running around with it (using a Bike helps, if you want to speed up the process) and it will hatch into a Wynaut. This takes a really long time in this version, but it will eventually happen.

- There are two houses in the south of Lavaridge. The left house is an herbal shop that sells restorative items for your pokemon... though they'll decrease your pokemon's opinion of you. Not the best idea overall, unless you like the move Frustration. (Might as well just use Return.) Speak to the man beside the counter and he'll give you a Charcoal, for... some reason.

- Checking out all that leaves...

May steps into Lavaridge Pokemon Gym.

Lavaridge Pokemon Gym

Gym number four, is it? Lavaridge's Pokemon Gym Challenge consists of a steamy hot springs, filled with trap doors. Step onto a trap door and you'll be shuttled to another area. Some of these doors contain trainers, so be ready to battle. Everyone in here is toting fire-type pokemon, making water- or ground-type pokemon staple choices. An evolved Mudkip (possibly Swampert by now?) can make mincemeat of this gym. Your primary concern should be having burned pokemon, as burn status will eat away at HP scores and greatly reduce the strength of physical attacks. Poison-types also appear often in this gym, so prepare to face 'em.

- Hop into the first door at the entrance of the gym. You'll appear with doors to your right and your left. The left door leads to a dead end; go right instead. It'll take you to a trainer and a trapdoor in the north.

Kindler Cole

Numel, level 23

Slugma, level 23

Reward: $736

Fire-types! No big deal. If you have trouble with these, this gym will stomp you flat.

- The next room has two more trapdoors. Between the middle and left doors is a trainer, burbling away beneath the water.

Ninja Boy Hiromichi

Koffing, level 24

Reward: $384

Stupid poison-types.

- The middle trapdoor shoots you up to the beginning, more or less; the left takes you to two trainers and another section of the gym.

Kindler Axle

Slugma, level 25

Reward: $800

Niiiice and weak.

Battle Girl Sadie

Meditite, level 26

Reward: $832

Fire Punch can be a surprise if you decide to bring out other pokemon. Otherwise, no big deal.

- Hop onto the top trapdoor, as the middle leads to a dead end. You'll wind up below the floor again, with two more trapdoors to use. Between them is another trainer.

Ninja Boy Shoji

Koffing, level 24

Reward: $384

So, like, this is a fire-type gym, right?

- The middle trapdoor leads to another dead end. Take the right one and you'll find another trainer, and through the trapdoor he guards, one final gym trainer.

Ace Trainer Zane

Slugma, level 26

Kecleon, level 26

Reward: $1,560

Slugma's no big deal; Kecleon's a weird case. It's not especially strong, but it changes types based on the moves you use. Use a fighting-type move on it and it becomes fighting-type, for example. You can use this to give it a desired weakness, then slag it. That said, a fighting-type move is still the fastest way to win.

Kindler Andy

Numel, level 23

Reward: $800

Oooo, a Numel. Dangeruex.

- One last trapdoor, aaaaand...

Flannery, gym leader of Lavaridge. She's... intense.

Leader Flannery

Slugma, level 26

Numel, level 26

Torkoal, level 28

Reward: $3,360

Truth be told, Flannery's kind of a pushover until you reach her final pokemon. The first two are enhanced versions of what you've fought already in this gym, and are only dangerous if they manage to burn your pokemon. Torkoal's another matter, as it can hit quite hard with Overheat... though only once. After the first use, Overheat's power drops substantially. Put a highly-defensive pokemon up front to bear the brunt of Overheat, then swap in something with more attack power to take Flannery out. Ironically enough, the Numel line of pokemon is probably best suited to thwomping Flannery with ground-type moves.

Defeating Flannery will earn you the Heat Badge, which allows you to use pokemon up to level 50 in battle without troubles. You can also use Strength outside of battle, which is quite handy for some areas. Last, Flannery hands over TM50, Overheat. Not bad.

- Taking down Flannery gives you sufficient power to take on another gym, one your rival will highlight when he/she shows up outside the gym. They'll also hand over the Go-Goggles, which will allow you to enter the desert off Route 111. Fighting daddy is tempting, but we'll have a look at the desert first.